Wednesday, June 16, 2010

OFF IS OFFICE

The office, no matter how closely and friendly relationship you have, should still spare an office environment that will keep the reputation of being an office. Regardless of nature of business, proper behavior of all employees that are appropriate and acceptable in an office should be observed at all times.


Every employee should be responsible in their act, move and language while inside the office. The courtesy we pay to others has an important effect on the whole-being of the company and well-being of our colleagues. You should know the time when you are helping or spoiling the environment in the office.

Cleanlines – Starting from your respective personal place, it is appropriate to keep your workplace clean and neat. Refuse yourself in over decorations of your desk and be careful in choosing the personal items you want to display that may be offensive or annoying to others. In an open and share space, remember that other people are using the space too so be responsible to select which personal item to display.

Communal areas such as dining area, comfort room, conference room and even network printers should be used with corresponding respect and courtesy to next user, so leave them as you find them. It is just proper to keep the shared equipments clean, tidy, safe and ready to use – do not leave the shared printer with paper jam, do not leave the toilet bowl unflushed.

Practice good hygene – Stop spreading the germs by practicing washing hands frequently specially after eating and using comfort room. Stay at home if you are unwell to avoid the spread of virus. Be sensitive to smells – eating in the office is unformal and it travels quickly through an office. However, excessive air freshener is hazard for health reasons. Sensitive to smells includes avoiding strong perfumes that may be overpowering inside the office – not all are fond of wearing perfumes.

Generally, avoid noise. This includes the volume of your voice, music, telephone and personal mobile ring. Constant ringing phone specially if unattended by the owner can be irritating and disturbing to the concentration of your colleague. At least turn down the volume of your phone, and if in the meeting switch it to silent or vibrate mode your cellphone. Loud conversation distracts the attention of people working around you. Frequent personal telephone conversation is annoying, limit your pensonal call briefly and in minimum time – unless it is emergency situation. Aside from it is unprofessional, it is just improper to use your office hour for any lengthy personal conversation.

Watch your timing. Puntuality in arriving ang leaving the work should be practiced by everyone in the office. Do not take advantage the grace period allocated to you. At the end of the day, your work performance is at stake. The same applies in breaktimes, punctuality in the set work time continues during the lunch brake – overrunning it is annoying to others as if other can abide the office hour, you should do the same.

Avoid bringing out work-related matter during breaktime unless really necessary. If your colleague is on break, do not interrupt him with work topics as this is his time to rest. This is act of giving respect to his breaktime. Even your colleague is on his desk during the breaktime, this doesn’t mean he wants to work. And it still doesn’t mean an open invitation to discuss your work. Even you say you’re a hard-working and workaholic worker who works even during breaktime, it doesn’t mean everybody should work also during breaktime.

Practice office etiquette by acting professionally. Distracting noises and inconsiderate behavior can frustrate your coworkers and can upset their concentration. It’s as simple as do not do to others what you don’t want others do to you.


Alex Villamayor
June 2010